Mr Synnott, partner and head of corporate M&A and structuring, joined when EY decided to set up its Irish legal operation and has been a corporate lawyer for 24 years after graduating from Trinity College Dublin and completing his traineeship at William Fry, a redoubt of the city’s legal landscape since 1847.

Since joining EY Law Ireland, his transactions have included advising AIB on the sale of its 49.9 per cent stake in AIB Merchant Services to its JV partner Fiserv Inc; shareholders of The Connacht Tribune and Galway Bay FM on the demerger of those media businesses and subsequent sales to separate buyers; and EY Ireland on its acquisition of Client Solutions, a leading Irish enterprise technology consulting service provider.

He recalls his traineeship at William Fry, which began in 1997, and his subsequent move to the UK, where he worked with magic circle firm Slaughter and May for four years at the cutting edge of corporate law in London.

“I had the privilege to work with some stellar lawyers there. It was a great experience and a very enjoyable time, both personally and professionally,” he says.

“Then in 2008 I moved back to Ireland for various reasons — partly family-related — and rejoined William Fry as a partner in the corporate team, just after the Irish economy had gone into a tailspin, the €144 billion bank guarantee had come into place, and everything had changed.”

“The timing was certainly interesting,” he muses.

“However, I think people who practised then saw all the diverse ways in which the economy eventually resolved itself, so it was good to gain that expertise and I got to do a lot in areas beyond just M&A work.”

When the opportunity arose in late 2020 with EY Law in Ireland and he talked to the firm about what it was planning to do in the country, he was extremely excited at the prospects.

“While EY had law firms in some 90 countries and was well established across the globe, there wasn’t an EY Law presence within Ireland,” he explains.

“So that was my first foray into that area and it was a unique proposition for me, probably the sort of opportunity that only really comes around once in your career.

“EY is constantly in growth mode, looking to add new service areas and I was enthused because I got to hand pick my own team, which has proved very successful.

“It certainly differed from joining an already well-established firm and plugging into an existing operation.”

Mr Synnott has specialised in corporate law since qualifying as a solicitor. “My area is primarily that of M&As and everything else that goes with corporate law advisory, which I enjoy because I’m not solely confined to advising on legal points but on all areas of business,” he says.

The corporate deals scene in Ireland saw positive activity in the first half of 2025 and while there were fewer huge deals than the first half of the preceding year, the actual volume rose, especially in the medium-sized sector.

“There’s certainly activity going on, though we perceived a degree of uncertainty and volatility earlier this year which was to some extent a reminder of the 2008-2011 period.

“Generally, though, we remain optimistic: Ireland is a resilient economy, there is a lot of inward investment happening and that is very much the lifeblood of our work,” he adds. 

“I’ve found that the experience of Irish corporate lawyers is that people are adaptable and work across areas that aren’t so specifically sector focused as for their equivalents in the UK or US and I’m fortunate that the firms I’ve worked in have that ethos. Personally, one of the major benefits in working in a firm like EY is that there’s always access to top-tier sector expertise.”

He says that international work is a key strand for EY Law Ireland: “A main source is via our EY Law global network, and we differentiate ourselves in having access to that and can collaborate with colleagues in these 90 different countries across the world.

“We have both a lot of inbound opportunities and are also able to refer opportunities on an outbound basis. For example, if we have an Irish target company that has operations in different jurisdictions which all need to be covered from an M&A corporate law perspective we have access to a network that can service that.”

Growing up in Raheny in Dublin, he now lives in Clontarf. “That’s just about two kilometres away, so I haven’t strayed too far from the original nest and am a true Dub,” he laughs. And though he has no family heritage in the profession, his eldest son also studied at Trinity and hopes to begin a legal traineeship next year.

A keen sportsman, he ruefully says that he “used to play lots of cricket and rugby until my eyesight compromised the former and the rest of my body decided that active participation in the latter was no longer an option”.

“I coached rugby for a while when my kids were smaller and took up sailing a couple of years ago while I’ve been cycling over the past 15 years — plus I go to the gym and generally try to keep in some sort of shape.”

To fulfil his cultural interests, Mr Synnott joined a choir eight years ago. The Acappella Fellas is a four-part male vocal harmony group with an impressive resumé of concert performances at venues all over the island and whose repertoire ranges from 14th-century church music through Irish traditional to David Bowie and Radiohead.

“We’re currently rehearsing for the usual Christmas favourites which is great fun — it’s probably one of the best extracurricular activities I’ve taken up in a long time,” he enthuses. “It’s about being quite good without taking ourselves too seriously.”

Which is cheering, because he concedes: “Professionally, the geopolitical situation is still an uncertain one, and even people who profess to be experts admit that we don’t know what’s going to happen next week — let alone in six or 18 months.

“Going forward we’re just going to have to bake that into the way we do business — but it certainly won’t stop people doing business. And regarding my team members I say: ‘Look, I’m here to help you to improve and become a stronger player’.

“Ultimately, the most rewarding thing for me is when I see people that I’ve personally hired complimented by our clients and other colleagues for their professionalism, their abilities and their commitment to excellence.”